How to use the word counter
Paste or type into the editor and the counts change with every keystroke. There's no submit button. The Paste button drops in plain text, and you can still add bold, headings or lists for your own view. Counts always use the plain text underneath.
Set a word goal (it starts at 1,000) to see how far along you are and how many words you have left or need to cut. Change the reading and speaking paces if the defaults don't fit your audience.
- Paste or type your full text into the editor.
- Enter your word goal, such as an essay limit or article brief.
- Adjust reading pace (default 238 words per minute) and speaking pace (default 130).
- Read the totals, page estimates and timings in the side panel.
- Check the keyword density list for words or phrases you repeat too often.
Word count to pages and reading time
This table uses the same numbers the tool does: 250 words per double-spaced page, 500 per single-spaced page, 238 words per minute for silent reading and 130 for speaking. Times are rounded to the nearest second.
A 1,000-word essay takes about 4 minutes 12 seconds to read and about 7 minutes 42 seconds to deliver as a speech. Write for the speaking time when the text will be read aloud.
| Words | Double-spaced pages | Single-spaced pages | Reading time (238 wpm) | Speaking time (130 wpm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 250 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 min 3 sec | 1 min 55 sec |
| 500 | 2 | 1 | 2 min 6 sec | 3 min 51 sec |
| 1,000 | 4 | 2 | 4 min 12 sec | 7 min 42 sec |
| 1,500 | 6 | 3 | 6 min 18 sec | 11 min 32 sec |
| 2,000 | 8 | 4 | 8 min 24 sec | 15 min 23 sec |
| 2,500 | 10 | 5 | 10 min 30 sec | 19 min 14 sec |
| 5,000 | 20 | 10 | 21 min 1 sec | 38 min 28 sec |
How reading time and speaking time are worked out
Both timings divide your word count by a pace. The 238 words per minute default comes from Marc Brysbaert's 2019 review of 190 reading studies, which put adult silent reading of English nonfiction at 238 words per minute and fiction at 260. The same review found reading aloud averages about 183 words per minute.
Speaking time defaults to a slower 130 words per minute because talks include pauses, emphasis and slides. If you've timed yourself, type your own pace in. Rehearsing with a stopwatch beats any estimate.
- Reading time (minutes) = words / reading pace
- Speaking time (minutes) = words / speaking pace
- Double-spaced pages = words / 250; single-spaced pages = words / 500
- Vocabulary variety = unique words / total words x 100
How many words for a 1, 5 or 10 minute speech?
Multiply the minutes by your speaking pace. At the default 130 words per minute, a 5-minute speech is about 650 words and a 10-minute talk is about 1,300. Nervous speakers often rush, so write a little under the limit if timing is strict.
- 1 minute: about 130 words
- 3 minutes: about 390 words
- 5 minutes: about 650 words
- 10 minutes: about 1,300 words
- 20 minutes: about 2,600 words
What counts as a word here
The counter uses your browser's Unicode word segmentation (the Intl.Segmenter rules from Unicode UAX #29), so it handles accented letters and many non-English scripts. Contractions like "don't" count as one word and decimals like 3.14 count as one. Hyphenated words such as "well-known" are usually split into two.
Other editors make different calls on hyphens, URLs, numbers and footnotes, so two tools can disagree by a few words on the same essay. If a school or publisher names a counting rule or a submission system, its number is the one that counts.
Sentences, paragraphs and repeated words
The side panel shows average, shortest and longest sentence length, how many sentences run past 25 words, and words per paragraph. A paragraph is any block separated by a blank line. Abbreviations like "U.S." and headings can throw off sentence totals a little.
The keyword density list ranks your most used single words, two-word phrases or three-word phrases with their share of the total. For single words you can hide common English words like "the" and "and" so topic words stand out. Use it to spot accidental repetition, not to hit a percentage.
Privacy and saving your work
Your text is counted in this browser and isn't sent to our server. There's no account. You can copy the text, undo and redo edits, clear the editor, copy the full analysis or download it as a PDF.
Nothing is saved for you, so keep your original draft somewhere safe. On a shared computer, clear the editor when you're done.
Sources
These sources back up the word rules, reading speeds and page formats used on this page.